NNA – The people of Deir al-Ahmar and its region flocked from their spread in Lebanon and the world, as every year on August 14, when they marched in a massive march in the streets of the town around the Virgin Mary – the Lady of the Tower – on the feast of her ascension in body and soul to heaven.
The march was led by the Maronite Diocese of Baalbek Deir al-Ahmar, Bishop Hanna Rahma, who presided over the divine sacrifice that was held as the culmination of the procession, assisted by the parish priest, Monsignor Melhem Sheet and his assistant, Yohanna Maroun Al-Naddaf, in addition to the Attorney General, Monsignor Paul Keyrouz, and the town’s parish priests. Antoine, a member of the “Strong Republic” bloc, participated in the mass. Habashi, the mayors of the region, their mayors and their activities.
Station in front of St. Joseph Church
At the midway point of the march in the town square, adjacent to St. Joseph Church, Archbishop Rahma said: “The Virgin’s transition in body and soul is nothing but a summary of a long period and a lifetime that the Virgin lived with the Lord in the Temple, and she is the one who asked at the Annunciation: How can this be when I do not know a man? To answer yet She received the answer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” A few words were accompanied by a great and continuous commitment to faith, worship, piety and virtue. And we, my beloved, gathered in great numbers, how beautiful it is to honor the name of the Virgin. You, Mary, are the good example for us, teach us to live. With Jesus and we love him and believe in his gospel, we kneel and pray the rosary so that our homes may be completely yours, as your home in Nazareth was sacred, we learn from you that our homes are homes of prayer, piety and virtue so that we can fight the great evil that threatens us in Lebanon, which is diverse in face and types, and we will only be able to overcome it Through prayer, piety, repentance, virtue and faith, and all that remains is for us to ask the Virgin, from the Lord, for deliverance, for Lebanon will not be saved except by our steadfastness in our faith.
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After the Holy Gospel, Archbishop Rahma delivered a sermon in which he said: “On this path that we walked with the Virgin in the streets of Deir al-Ahmar, we prayed and many prayed with us in their homes. We asked the Virgin Mary to place Lebanon under her protection: our diocese, and Deir al-Ahmar is the capital of our Maronite and Christian presence in This is the region, where we have full confidence that she is the true tender mother who does not abandon her children.”
He added: “We reflect on Mary’s face in this year in which we lived in the Synod, and our common thinking regarding our work as a witnessing church to Christ and his gospel. The Virgin asked the angel when he came to her as a herald, so the position of the Virgin from the beginning of the road is important as she did not want to commit without searching, asking and realizing Responsible for what was required of her, as a young girl, she devoted her life to the temple by practicing the divine virtues, by reading the Holy Books, where she was imbued with her reading of the Word of God on the day the angel came to her in Nazareth with good tidings: The Virgin gave this good news, and she chose to walk with it because she was ready for the necessary preparation through her contemplation of the face of God, his words and his teachings.
He continued: “The Virgin, who rarely spoke in the Bible, is the one who speaks little and does a lot. She said to the angel: (Here I am the handmaid of the Lord), obedient to the Lord and giving her life to Him. With life and its affairs, she heard, listened, memorized and meditated in her heart, she prayed and lived her prayer to the word of the Lord.
Bishop Rahma added: “Mary’s transition with body and soul to heaven is the culmination of her entire life with Jesus, and as a result of her walk in purity, purity and holiness, on this earth, all her commitment, sacrifices, and watch over her family, small and large, the Lord crowned her life with this great event, the transition occurred with soul and body. All human beings They often weaken and submit to their weakness and their body, complaining and weakening their faith, that is why God calls them one day to be liberated from the body that pulls us down and calls the soul to ascend to the highest, to the kingdom; except for Mary, who is an example for every woman and man, whose body did not submit to perishing and decay Rather, it was completely transformed as the body of Christ into a glorified body.Therefore, there is no presence in the history of the Church of Mary’s tomb, for her death is called lamentation, transmigration.Christ rose from the dead, as he is the master of death and life. As for the Virgin, she moved, was transferred, crossed, departed, and it is a professed ecclesiastical belief in Mary. The one who believed, prayed, pleaded, adhered, the Lord rewarded her with her transition, the one who glorified the Lord with her life and her tongue.
He said: “Everything that surrounds us of difficult circumstances and threatens us with diseases, epidemics and the threat of starvation is invincible only by prayer at a time when officials neglect their duties, especially the formation of the government. With the desire to do good, all the money they illegally earned will not accompany them to the gates of Satan. May the Virgin intercede for all those who harmed Lebanon, so that they may repent.”
In conclusion, he called for a massive participation in the mass that will be celebrated by Patriarch Al-Rahi on September 8, the Nativity of the Virgin, where he will dedicate and bless a number of ecclesiastical projects that have been implemented in the region.
And following the mass that was served by the choir of the parish of Our Lady of the Tower, which crowned the novena that was held in preparation for the feast under the title “With Mary, we walk in the synodal procession led by the Church today,” and it was presented to Lebanon and the people of the region, living and dead, especially benefactors and martyrs, and for the sake of the Bekaa Church. Northern, from shepherds, priests, consecrated persons and laymen, children, adolescents, youth, parents and patients of soul and body, in order to preserve the deposit of faith and to be witnesses of love and giving in this part of the earth.” .
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